Police: Enfield man charged with grandmother’s killing

In this Aug. 21 photo, state police investigators collect evidence at the scene of the killing of 79-year-old Frances Battagler on Second Avenue in Enfield. (Kassi Jackson / Hartford Courant)

The grandson of a woman bludgeoned to death in Enfield last month has been arrested and charged with her murder.

Anthony D. Ward, 35, was taken into custody Wednesday and held on $1 million bail, Enfield police announced late Wednesday afternoon.

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Ward is accused of killing his grandmother, 79-year-old Frances Battagler, in her Second Avenue home on Aug. 20 after an apparently violent attack involving a hard object, police have said.

Anthony D. Ward, 35, was arrested Wednesday and charged with the murder of his grandmother, 79-year-old Frances Battagler, in her Second Avenue home on Aug. 20 after an apparently violent attack involving a hard object.

Ward was arrested Wednesday after spending two weeks in the hospital and the Institute of Living psychiatric facility after he crashed Battagler’s car in Wethersfield the day after police found her dead, according to three sources familiar with the case.

Police initially went to Battagler’s home late the night of Aug. 20 to check on Ward, who was known to stay there on occasion, after a family member went to the police station with a letter that raised concerns about his well-being, Fox has said.

Ward was named a person of interest and police searched for him until the next afternoon, when he was found in Battagler’s crashed car off a road in Wethersfield, officials have said. Fox said at the time that detectives planned to interview him as soon as possible and that “these results will dictate what happens thereafter.”

Further details about Ward’s charges were not immediately available late Wednesday afternoon.